When we began the lengthy design and build process for our new London Central data centre, we decided to start a comprehensive build blog which would track the progress made each week, including photographs of the changes and a short write up of what’s been happening.

This ended in July 2015, shortly after we soft-opened the facility to existing clients. From a technical standpoint, the facility was indeed ‘finished’, however we still had plenty of additions to make with regards to customer amenities. We officially launched the new facility in February 2016, after completing another run of works inside the data centre.

We posted our first build blog update in November 2016, which documented the overhaul of our much-loved Build Room for data hall one. We’re now almost exactly a year on from our official launch event, and so thought it would be a good opportunity to provide an update post that documents all the changes we have made over the past 12-18 months.

This photographic tour of the facility shows all of the key spaces in their current configuration, bringing the build blog fully up to date with the facility as it stands today.

Our NOC screens command centre stage in our open plan office.

All workstations in our office now have a triple-screen setup.

Our open plan HQ office has become a real hive of activity over the past 12 months.

Our much-lauded meeting room is a real favourite with site visitors.

Two large conference screens sit at the head of our Vitra board table.

Our reception now sports a sleek desk with custom white logo.

We have a new tube status readout screen above the main entrance, for the convenience of visitors as they leave.

A look up at the soaring atrium in the main entrance.

Our new Customer Lounge is very much a space that will evolve over the coming months, but it is already a uniquely interesting space that our customers love to use.

Our new Customer Lounge is very much a space that will evolve over the coming months, but it is already a uniquely interesting space that our customers love to use.

Our new Customer Lounge is very much a space that will evolve over the coming months, but it is already a uniquely interesting space that our customers love to use.

Our dedicated customer kitchen, while still a blank canvas awaiting further work, is rarely pictured.

Our dedicated customer kitchen, while still a blank canvas awaiting further work, is rarely pictured.

Our electrical intake room has had colour coding for both A and B sides applied, with further colouring to come soon.

Our electrical intake room has had colour coding for both A and B sides applied, with further colouring to come soon.

Our shower facilities received a full make over shortly after opening.

Build Room 1 received a full overhaul recently, much to the praise of its users.

Build Room 1 received a full overhaul recently, much to the praise of its users.

The two workstations in Build Room 1 are always ready for customer use.

A look down the length of Data Hall One as it stands today, an ever-evolving modular space.

A look down the length of Data Hall One as it stands today, an ever-evolving modular space.

An alternative view of Data Hall One, this time from Row B/C.

A look at the new optical distribution infrastructure recently upgraded in Data Hall One.

We have additional improvement works scheduled for 2017, including additional perimeter fencing with razor wire and a man trap, the deployment of additional rack and cooling capacity in data hall one, as well as improved on-site amenities for both customers and staff.

Our last official Build Blog entry was in July 2015, shortly after the soft-opening of our facility to existing clients. That was nearly 18 months ago, and it’s fair to say that the facility has evolved fairly extensively since then.

Anyone that knows our data centres will understand our obsession with quality and progression, which permeates everything we design and build here at Netwise. As much as the build room for Data Hall 1 functioned perfectly well, it’s fair to say that we are not huge fans of plain white rooms. The inclusion of the sound system in September was of course a welcome addition, however the space was still lacking some imagination.

Build Room 1 now adheres to our new technical design direction, which will follow suit in Data Hall 1 in 2017. The space has 360 degree wrap-around checker plate cladding, and a newly inviting entrance to Data Hall 1 – giving a greater indication that you are entering the primary technical space inside of the facility.

The old white space masked up for painting

First coat of paint on both wall and door

The finished paintwork

The first of the check plate being installed

A look at the more intricate corner detail

A look across the build room as the checker plate reaches completion, with work benches re-positioned

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

The space returned to normal function, pending final orange accents

February 2017 will mark our first anniversary since officially launching to the public. Check back here in late February for a special Build Blog post; one year on, which will detail all of the changes to the facility since launching.

This post signifies the end of our regular build blog series. Whilst the site will always have on-going works, particularly as new modules of the facility come online, the initial build can now be considered complete.

As such, we will now only put up new build blog posts during specific projects, or at the end of further system installations, to give our readers an insight into new developments.

We thank all of our avid readers for following the project – it has been a very long and at times difficult task, but our London Central site is now online and operating at full steam!

There were some delays this week, due to on-going configuration works on various systems, however the access control system is now complete and operational, along with progress in other areas of the site.

A look at the outward-facing access control cluster on the customer kitchen door

A look at the access control hardware inside the customer kitchen area

A look at the control unit setup inside of the cold corridor

The inbound access control unit for entering the customer kitchen, in its powered, operational state

A look at the new signage ready to be fitted throughout the facility

A look at the new signage ready to be fitted throughout the facility

One of the small door signs fitted; the signs are made of grey vinyl applied to frosted perspex, mounted on satin-finish signage standoffs